Select Local Merchants

It's rare for museums to have cozy dining rooms, but the Charles Allis Art Museum wasn't always a museum. Earlier in the 20th century, it was businessman and arts patron Charles Allis's Tudor-style mansion. Allis bequeathed it to the public along with his massive art collection, though, and nowadays, visitors can stop by to see pieces that span 2,000 years. Some highlights? Works by Winslow Homer, Classic antiquities, a large collection of Asian ceramics, plus rotating exhibits by local Wisconsin artists.
The Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum nestles in a historic mansion, too, albeit a different one. This one was built in the likeness of an Italian Renaissance villa in 1923, by architect David Adler. Its art spans a smaller period, from the 15th century through to the 18th. Visitors can browse wrought-iron work by Cyril Colnik, and explore a formal, outdoor Renaissance garden.

Runners embarking on the Honky Tonk Marathon, Half Marathon, and 5K won't need headphones to hear twangy country tunes. That’s because the hilly Wisconsin Dells course features live bands and DJs along the route to keep participants energized as they race toward the finish line. The party-like atmosphere doesn’t end with the race, as a full-blown celebration complete with food, beer, and line dancing awaits runners and their family and friends. Aside from age-group awards for the top three males and females in each race, finish-line gifts include a Honky Tonk cowboy hat and goodie bag for all participants, a finisher-medal buckle for marathoners and half marathoners, and an ice bath for those who decided to pogo stick the entire 26.2 miles. The Honky Tonk marathon and half-marathon course is USA Track & Field certified and is also a Boston Marathon qualifier.

Flashing lights and an orchestra of electronic beeps fill Blazzin Lazers' indoor arena, where warriors young and old plunge into battle against others who were friends mere minutes before. Amid a realistic military base and barrels oozing with faux-neon toxic waste, players flex their fingers around laser-gun triggers, dodge enemy blasts, and scan barcodes with superhuman speed as computerized vests keep track of scores. The laser-tag facility also hosts parties, offering packages for larger groups and a party room where groups can lower heart rates as they unwrap birthday presents and enjoy cake or food brought from home. Housed inside the space of a former haunted house, Blazzin Lazers also hosts haunted laser tage in October.

During Milwaukee Winter Fest, visitors of all ages can shake the snow from their sleeves inside a climate-controlled facility filled with festive lights and colorful decorations. There they can play in more than 50 attractions including inflated fun zones, carnival rides, and a 240-foot indoor zipline. Singers and musical acts take to the stage during scheduled events to inspire impromptu dance parties and prove once and for all that guitars can be used for more than just housing herb gardens.

At the annual Das Oktoberfest block party, friends and families converse over brats, hot dogs, and drinks with the peace of mind that proceeds benefit Hunger Task Force. Festival-goers gather in the Mader's parking lot at 11 a.m. for the kid-friendly, pet-friendly Brat Trot, where competitors don complimentary Oktoberfest hats before beginning the race. Trot participants then ring in the festival with a grueling 1.5-block walk, run, or ride on a giant Slinky to Pere Marquette Park. Each attendee makes the trek with a complimentary 12-ounce Oktoberfest beer or soda in one hand, accompanying a free Usinger brat or hot dog in the other. Once at the park, participants partake in a communal jubilee. Prior to the race, athletes can also compete for prizes in a contest for best costumed individual and team, or duke it out in a pig Latin spelling bee.

The Sweetest Swing in Baseball, written by acclaimed playwright Rebecca Gilman, is the story of Dana, a heralded artist who checks into a mental ward after a disastrous gallery opening. Happy at the hospital but running out of insurance, Dana cooks up an elaborate scheme to pretend that she thinks she is actually baseball legend Darryl Strawberry so that she can stay in the mental ward. The Sweetest Swing in Baseball is directed by Milwaukee Chamber Theatre's producing artistic director, C. Michael Wright. Despite rave reviews for his work as Guildenstern to Dwight Gooden's Rosencrantz in a recent West End production of Hamlet, Darryl Strawberry himself will not be appearing in this show.